Slow day...............

I finally decided on the group of blocks for the table runner I need to make.

I didn't do much until the middle of the afternoon.  I went out to bring some pots into the house and others into the garage because we're expecting a frost or freeze.  I also picked a few more green tomatoes and filled a birdfeeder.  The Geranium on the front porch table is too heavy for me to lift so I covered it, hoping for the best.

Last night I hand stitched a short side of binding while I watched TV, so I'm halfway done.

Today I need to do some cutting for future projects.

 

Miscellany.....................

This is the group removed from the blue batik shelf that are getting moved to the miscellaneous batik shelf.

Yesterday morning I renewed my driver's license.  I didn't have to drive this time. They finally changed the age from 75 to 87 where you have to drive as part of the test.  We are the ONLY state that has this funny business.  I had to drive the last 3 times to get my license since we only get a 2 year license after 80.  The bottom line, I still have my independence.

Last night I finished one long side of binding on the fall color 9 patch.  I'm not in a hurry to finish this one so maybe it will be done next week.

I remembered to get a daylight photo of the cactus that is blooming.  I the background is a bud on a red one.

Farther down on the same table are these 3 almost ready to bloom.  One is white with pink, one champagne, and one pale pink.

I went through another big bin of flannel and found some interesting things.  The triangles on the left can be cut down into half square triangles, and the one on the right have the grain on the long edge so they will be cut into quarter square triangles.  The other option is to sew them together first and then trim them down to the largest size that I can.

I found a small bag with these 2" finished blocks.  It looks like I ran out of dark triangles so I will cut some more.

I also found more strips in that bin so they are going in the bag of random size strips.

We are expecting a frost 2 nights in a row (Fri. & Sat.) so the last 2 days I have been picking tomatoes.  They range from ping pong ball size to a little larger than a golf ball.  Last year I ate my final ripened tomato the first week of December.  Some of these are starting to turn color already.  There are 4th of July, Early Girl and Rutgers plus the mismarked one that I think is an heirloom tomato. There are lots more of even smaller tomatoes on the plants but I doubt I will pick them.

My day in order of events...........

Yesterday I started with trying to get a photo of my Maple tree.  It turned color all in one day and now day 3 it is already dropping its leaves. It's hard to get a good photo of it because there is a Redbud tree directly in front of it.  I used to go into the neighbor's yard to get a photo from the other side but now there is a fence.

I chose the binding fabric for the fall color 9 patch and cut the 7 strips.

Next I took the big bin of flannel pieces and sorted them.  This is the pile of chunks that are going to be cut into a small tumbler shape.

I ended up with a pile of larger pieces in bright colors and kid print flannels and also a pile of muted colors.  I'll cut 6.5" squares from a lot of them.

This pile is all flannel strips, short ones, long ones, etc.  They are irregular widths and I'm waffling on keeping them or throwing them.  Since I have so much flannel yardage, it seems pretty senseless to work with these.

I sewed the binding strips together and sewed them on the quilt last night.

I started the hand stitching on the binding.  It was a productive day, maybe not exciting, but productive.

Almost there........................

I sewed until 10 last night and got this far.  I thought I was going to have to add a piece at the right side of the bottom row, but now it looks like I might need to trim it off instead.  Either that or trim the end of the 6" block section.  I'll make that decision today.  The camera is making the light fabrics a little too light here.  I hope I can get a photo with true color later today.

I noticed the first bloom on my cactus yesterday morning but it was overcast outside and I thought I would wait until a little later to take a photo.  Well, a little later turned into 6 p.m. so it was dark.  I took the photo anyway to have a record on my blog of the first bloom of the season.

2 more pinwheels and pretty trees.......................

I cut 2 of the Marcia Derse plaid fabrics for the pinwheels.  I made 2 of each of these combinations.  I'm going to use most of the duplicates in a separate project.  

I got 2/3 of a long side of binding hand sewn.  If I keep up this pace I'll get it done this month.

The tree across the street is almost fully turned and has dropped all of the leaves from the top of the tree.  We still don't have a frost or freeze in the forecast for the next 10 days.  In fact we have the 6th warmest October in Chicago records.

Last year I missed taking a photo of this tree south of me.  Their Burning Bush always turns color before mine.  

I love the combination of colors.

 

Cutting and binding..............

I got a few more new fabrics cut for the pinwheel blocks.  I even got 2 sets of the 3" triangles cut.  I thought I would have time to sew a few but I changed over to the binding instead.

This is the shape left over from some of the fabrics (center).  I can cut a 2.5" triangle from one section, and the portion left (right) is large enough to cut 1.5" triangles.  Maybe there will be some 2" pinwheels too.

I got the binding fabric pressed, cut and pieced together, ready to work on last night.

I had to get the first corner hand sewn before I quit last night.  I wonder why those stripes show up on a close-up photo.  It is just a plain light gold background behind the chickens.

In case you think I might be running low on brown, rust and gold fabrics, this is what is still in the big box after making 3 quilts.

I planted all of the leftover Begonias in this pot in the middle of summer.  I have had it over in front of the garage  most of the time but moved it over to the paver area where it will get rain.  Begonias are so hardy and are in bloom all summer.  I think I need to plant more of them in the pots next summer.

 

Binding chosen.......................

Here is a reminder of the pieces I pulled to audition for the binding of this quilt.  I auditioned evey one of them with just 3/8" showing and I liked all of them.  Now I had to decide how to narrow the selection down.  I decided I should find the ones that were unlikely choices in a future project.

These were the 2 that I thought were most unlikely to ever be used.

Then I had just a narrow strip of each showing and decided on the one on the left.  I put the one on the right with my African fabrics where it has a better chance of appearing in a future quilt.  I had the iron on, pressing the pinwheel blocks, and forgot to press this fabric so I haven't cut the strips yet.

While in the basement I cut more 4" triangles to pair with some I showed last night.  There are some more lively colors now.

I changed some of the combinations from the photo above and sewed a few blocks last night.

This is one of the pots that sits in front of my garage.  It almost died during one of the extreme heat weeks with the sun beating down on it from sunrise until 11 a.m.  

Some of the Geraniums in this pot are 4 years old and the rest are 2 years old.  I pull it into my heated garage (55 degrees) for the winter and water it 3 or 4 times and then put it back outside in May the next year.  It is a repainted pot and looking a little shabby but I still like it.

 

New plan.......................

I had a change of plans after reading Kathy's comment yesterday.  She said How about pinwheels?  I have been planning to do a pinwheel quilt at some point so this was the perfect start.

Last night I sewed 27 little 4" pinwheels with all 4 segments matching.  I will now make a few more with some 2 and 2 sections.

My plan for that future pinwheel quilt included 3 different sizes of pinwheels.  I had some half strips of Marcia Derse fabric left over from cutting a previous quilt.  I was able to cut 8 four inch triangles from them and the leftovers will be used to cut some more 2" triangles.  I need to cut some three inch triangles next.

Earlier in the day I went through my big bin of brown/rust/gold fabrics and pulled some choices to audition for the binding on this 16 patch quilt.  I'll look at them closer today.  I was mainly looking for fabrics with more than a half yard.

Yesterday morning I was enjoying the gold leaves on the Redbud trees against the brilliant blue sky.  About a third of the leaves have dropped.

In the afternoon I checked out the tree across the street.  It is changing color slowly, giving us a lot of time to enjoy it.

When I was out checking the tomato plants I cut a new bouquet of Marigolds.  They are at their prime now, 5 months after I planted the seeds.  I was beginning to think they were going to just be leaves after months of no buds.

The draping plant is now changing to gold in the pots on the front table.  I think we are past worries of frost for about a week.

Final layout, or maybe some changes......................

After I made the decision where the final 2 rows needed to be, I put the blocks up on the double design wall.  I did change 2 blocks with each other after I took this photo. In the 4th row down I changed blocks one and three with each other.  I'll look at it again this morning and decide it will stay that way or get changed back.  Since there are 2 different blocks I was limited on which blocks could be moved to new locations.

I was intending to wash a load of light color clothes so I am glad I walked past my living room window first and saw that they were flushing hydrants.  That means you might get rust in the water shortly after.  I did a load of dark clothes instead.

It was a gloomy morning yesterday but I wanted to record that the Redbud tree leaves are mostly yellow now and lots were dropping all day.

The smallest trees have the most yellow leaves.  The rest of the leaves will probably drop quickly, especially since they are predicting rain for today.

When I went out to pick tomatoes, I also picked a few Marigold blooms.  I planted them by the tomatoes and some of the plants are 2' tall.  I couldn't find any seeds for small plants.  Next year I'll probably buy little plants at the nursery instead of planting seeds.

 

Not much accomplished..............

All I got done was assembling the last 3 blocks for the Fractured quilt.  I realized yesterday that if I add a row on the right side of the quilt it will place the circular part at the center from side to side.  Right now it is off center.  I have to decide if I want it off center in both directions before I go to the design wall because the blocks will fill the whole double wall.

The tree across the street has more color every day.  It's not going to change completely though until we get some cooler weather.  It wa 86 here yesterday and still 70 when I went to bed.  It was 88 in Chicago and broke the record all the way from the 1880s by 4 degrees.  84 degrees predicted for today.

I wanted to have another photo of the Geranium because it is so pretty.

I had to get new tires for my 22 year old Chrysler van because the old ones were 12 years old and starting to rot from age.  I also got a new battery so I hope I get through this coming winter without calling for a jumpstart.  I only drive about 50 miles a month so it is hard to keep a battery charged up.